Harry Orlyk was born in Troy, New York in 1947. In 1971 after graduating college, he went on to graduate school at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Over the next nine years, he was influenced by several Nebraskan artists. “Still-life painter Robin Smith taught me how to use paint without turpentine – to paint from the tube.” He also admits the influence of photographer Lawrence McFarland who taught him what spiritual space was, and how to emphasize it. Lastly he credits well-known Lincoln painter Keith Jacobshagen with having impressed on hm the importance of routine. He currently resides with his family in Salem, New York, near the Vermont border. [Read more…]

Julie Branch is a sculptor living outside of Rotterdam, New York.  Working primarily in ceramics and fiber she creates figures inspired by nature, dreams and mythology. Julie grew up in the Dakotas, Colorado, Hawaii and Montana.  She has lived in Minnesota, Montana and New York City.

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Leslie Peck, a New York native, was educated at the Fashion Institute of Technology where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art. She then spent a year studying art in Italy at the Scuola di Lorenzo De Medici in Florence, before apprenticing in Rome with renowned illustrator Alessandro Biffignandi. Peck began a freelance career in romance book cover illustration in 1988. While still sucessful in the publishing field, her love for portraiture of people and animals has found its expression in her most recent oil paintings. [Read more…]

JoAnn Axford lives and maintains her studio in Glenmont, New York. She received her bachelor degree at the University of Bridgeport, Conn. and her masters from The College of Saint Rose. Her interest in botanical imagery led her to post-graduate study in Botanical Illustration at The New York Botanical Garden.

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Nick Patten is a native of Troy, NY and received his B.A. in Fine Arts of the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY. In addition to dozens of solo and group shows nationwide at a variety of venues, Patten’s work can be seen in many private and public collections throughout the world. [Read more…]

Environmental conservation, bio-diversity, global and ethnic uneasiness, mankind’s relationship to the planet earth, and even space explorations all come to mind as I began the new series, “Garden Stories.” Using the remnants of fall gardens as my stage, I set up narratives using miniature toys that include animals, fire engines, and astronauts. [Read more…]

T. Klacsmann captures the consciousness of animals as they exist independently from, but intermingled with humanity. Loving beauty more than efficiency, they meticulously carve each thing that appears in their work in linoleum or wood. Some of the resulting relief prints are further developed with paint, ink, and colored pencil; other prints are scanned and turned into polyester lithography plates, printed and combined with relief prints to create multi-layered works on paper featuring animals in naturalistic settings altered by humanity. [Read more…]

I am fascinated by identity, where we come from, and who we think we are. I draw inspiration from other people’s stories, contemporary and ancient, real and imaginary to create characters with interior lives of struggle and hope. [Read more…]

Tracy Helgeson attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, majoring in Graphic Design and then transferred to the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) where she studied illustration. Philadelphia was a great influence on Tracy and it was there that her work began to take on a unique style as she learned the under painting skills and glazing techniques that distinguish her current work. [Read more…]

I belong to the tradition of vessel makers. I work in clay, on the wheel, forming containers for flowers, food, air. Clay is the skin to contain a volume, the line to draw a profile. I think of long tall vessels as forms that stand as a person, defining and incorporating space. I feel a kinship with Chinese ceramics and like to sketch vases to understand the success of their curves, the space they envelop and the space they exclude.

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